Harvester help

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Hey guys, I need some tips or advice on getting the Grim Reaper trophy/achievement on Golems. I beat the Witch Hunt boss on nightmare easily, but I'm having trouble with the good ol' Harvester, mainly the second part of the battle. I use an Elven two handed warrior (berserker, reaver, spirit warrior. all maxed except for reaver) with high constitution and willpower. I have the sentinel armor set, and the Dragonbone Cleaver from Witch Hunt. Any advice on killing this stupid thing would be appreciated. Thanks!

My first try character (rogue) had to give up on the grim reaper. I realised that in order to beat it, I need to paralyse it. I need a mage. ûber powerful mage with lots of paralyse skills get the job done. I'm sure that there is a way to beat it with any class but you asked for the easiest way and that is to my knowledge the mage.

Make sure you are you have dosens and dosens of the best healing and lyrium potions with you when you start the fight you need to drink one every other second. You need 2000 gold in order to get the necessary ration. Use the Money Making Guide to get the necessary founds.

Ps. Saying you use a so and so character is a bad idea, you need to make a special character for the Harvester, you need to bend for it certainly wont.
Pps. I have only played that DLC 2 times and as you properly know if you have read my review I was very disappointed. I believe I succeeded the twentieth time with my second character and I used 4 hours to prepare it to export, :-(making gold takes time)-rphb- (talk) 20:30, October 18, 2010 (UTC)

I played the same Rouge character from Origins through Witch Hunt. When I got to the Harvester it almost made me pull my hair out, till I noticed the switch against the wall. When it switches to melee resistance(red light), I hit the switch (looks like a book on a pedestal) and went back to the beat-down. The melee resistance seems to extend to the skeletons, this is what was wrecking my party. Also make sure all party members have tactics set for healing. Not all that bad after you get through it. Arrancar79 (talk) 21:16, October 18, 2010 (UTC)

Nah see if you want to use your warrior I'd suggest changing the weapon specialization. I've beaten the Harvester twice, once on nightmare, and once on hard. Here's a trick I learned for beating him. Use something that blasts away the skeletons. I can't remember what its called, but using that Shield/sword ability that's similar to repulsion field is a good idea. But make sure you have stamina potions. I found the easiest way for me, is to go in straight on with your character and watch your health and stamina/mana while just bashing down on only the harvester. On nightmare I used a Blood Mage/ Arcane Warrior/ Battle Mage and surprisingly it only took around six tries, hard with my reaver/ spirit warrior/ berserker was unbelievably hard taking probably over thirty tries, but possible by using the repulsion technique. The main thing is keeping the skeleton's off, because as many times as I've tried, you can't kill them. Honestly, I never really paid attention to my party and just let them die (bad I know, but sacrifices had to be made :P), but like stated above going to hit that switch also kills the skeletons for a minute and gives you a few quick shots with the harvester one on one. --Xiorath (talk) 23:11, October 18, 2010 (UTC)

Killed him twice on nightmare with a warrior, first time it took like 5 tries and second time i killed him from the first try... First warrior was weaker weapon and shield one(lvl 35) and second ofc much stronger(again weapon and shield and lvl 35) since that second time that i killed him he went down so fast that other party members were alive the whole fight and even survived it! :) Tried with friends backstab rogue and it was impossible to end his 2nd phase... I also tried with my origins weapon and shield warrior and my best try was like 15-20% in the 2nd phase and i died, its too hard with origins char, especially with origins warrior (since they get much much stronger in awakening)... My warrior spec is a weapon and shield hybrid (maxed strength and only like 25 const, 30 willpower and 26 dex with mixed gear) which is extremely durable and does incredible damage(champion/berserker/spirit warrior). I respeced Brogan to same spec as me and gave him some parts of sentinel armor and other good stuff i picked up from awakening making him the most valuable member of my party except my char... I never tried doing Harvester with my mage since i didnt rly cared and didnt had time, i am kinda proud that i killed him with my warrior that easily on nightmare since everyone thinks that warrs are crap in DA... :) Aragorn Cousland (talk) 11:51, October 19, 2010 (UTC)

I haven't tried the Harvester on nightmare but, I beat it on hard with my shield/sword warrior. I was a champion/reaver/spirit warrior and Jerrik had a bow, Brogan had the reapers cudgel/shield, and the golem had tactics disabled. I beat the Harvester in one try and I don't think I ever hit the switch. My warrior was a dex, str build so I had a pretty high defense even before activating the spirit warrior ability. I think it was easy because of my characters' high defense.- - darb86 15:52, October 19, 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for everything so far guys. I have a lot of the manuel of focus that respec your character, so im thinking of switching him to a sword/shield. My two handed warrior has been storming through awakening on hard so far in order to collect the best possible gear for jerrik and brogan. Right now I have a high willpower, constitution (which i know is important) and a high strength with moderate cunning and dex. Im most likely switching jerrik to a archer as well. And yes, i know, im not very impressed with the dlc either. im also frustrated. Go figure :)

I tried with my dual-wield warrior from awakening but I couldn't kill the bastard. So I decided to get my rogue through awakening and the try it. I build him to hit about 250-350. And finally I faced the Harvester. In the second phase I left alone. Every one died. The only thing that saved me were the paralysis runes in my daggers. When he was paralyzed i hit him really bad til dead. It was a really tough fight.
P.S. That was on Hard. I'll try my Arcane Warrior on Nightmare but now he's just level 11.Quiz6933 (talk) 08:22, October 21, 2010 (UTC)

Ya the good thing about my two handed warrior is that hes a full level 30 so I have ridiculously high constitution. And hard is the difficulty im going to try it on since im a textbook underachiever ;)

I got the trophy, thanks everyone. I re-specced to a sword/shield which simply dominated.

This may be a little late, but I feel the need to give you guys credit where it's due... I recently progressed a character through Origins/Awakening/Amgarrak and am now about to finish up witch Hunt before officially starting my DA2 experience. That being said, I read through this forum as well as the Golems of Amgarrak page. It seems that everything leans towards a warrior build in order to defeat the Harvester on Hard... Oh, sorry, forgot to mention, I wanted to get the achievement for beating it on Hard as well... I can honestly say that I was leary of re-attacking this DLC because my first experience, on Easy, was such a nightmare to me! However, I was successful...

My import from Awakenings didn't have any Manuals of Focus, but I did have all my gear from my final party (Anders, Nathaniel, Justice and myself). As I got to the 'green switch' room with the 6(?) golems and my party all fell dead at the golems' feet, I began to wonder if I was going to be able to beat this mission? However, I went Stealth to get the loot and made a 'tactical' retreat to another switch to regen my party. Once at the Harvester, my entire party fell while I was controlling the Golem (not my Warden, but everyone else). It appeared that for some reason they were unable to use my health poultices, only I could use them...? Must be a glitch, I don't know. Anyway, I beat the Harvester by myself. my party fell in the first phase with the Harvester at about 50-75% health. Almost all the skeletons missed me when they would swing (I'll get to character build in a second) and the Harvester's attacks seemed to miss a LOT...

My build was 41-STR 97-DEX 25-WIL base magic 22-CUN and 30 CON. I had as much equipment as I could find that would either give me x% to dodge and attach, or x% critical chance, with an afterthought to anything that increased health/Constitution. My weapons were the Voice of Velvet with all three rune slots full of Grandmaster Paralyze Runes and Vigilance with all three rune slots filled with Grandmaster Slow Runes (the choices that added to your stamina)... I think I used maybe between 10 and 15 health poultices through the whole fight(I don't know what level though).

So, I'd just like to say thank you guys for all the info on the Harvester and that it IS possible to beat him with a Rogue, you just have to Spec right!
Bluemax87 (talk) 23:41, March 20, 2011 (UTC)

This is my advice(and if I'm repeating someone, srry, I just skimmed :P). In my mind, there are only two builds that can do the job on hard or nightmare, and those are arcane warrior and dual wield warrior. Make sure you have at least 100 potent poultices, and you're level 35. For the dual wielder, I used vigilance/voice of velvet, Sentinel armor set, key to the city, spellward, lifegiver, and andruils blessing. Full dual wield tree, full champion, full spirit warrior, berserker for the bonus, death blow, and the rest on other stuff that fits your play style. Make sure that you're never without momentum, beyond the veil, and rally. With this build, it's best to respec Jerrik as an archer, and have Brogan puppy guard the golem, as it's your only source of magic healing. You're job is to do as much damage to the harvester as you can, as fast as you can, while the others distract the skeletons. Trust me, without it's skeletons, this thing is a piece of cake. P.S., if everybody dies, remember ser pounce-a-lot!

With the Arcane warrior, pick up spirit healer and battlemage, invest fully in all three trees. Pick up 3 of the cold spells, all of the spirit tree, the telekinetic tree, the hex tree, the healing tree, and spend the rest as you see fit(picking up more primal spells is helpful). I had vigilance, the heartwood shield, stormchaser helm, venture, stormchaser gloves, fleet feet, and the accessories mentioned above. For stats, get about 30 dexterity, 25 con, and the rest in magic and willpower. This strategy means keeping jerrik as a dual wielder, and giving brogan the sentinel armor. Keep Jerrik behind the Harvester, you in front, and Brogan and the golem distracting skeletons. This is essentially an attrition game. Freeze it as often as possible, and whittle it's health down. It will do little damage to you, but your companions will need frequent healing, so this is where spirit healing and poultices will come in handy.

For its second stage, it will summon at least 6 elite boss level skeletons. It's the same deal as before, but concentrate all healing on brogan and the golem, as they will be getting pummeled. Freeze the skeletons if you can, but focus on the harvester. It can summon skeletons faster than you can kill them.

Rogue character with Legion of the Dead leveled high enough for the immune to damage talents takes Harvester on legendary fairly easily.
Justin Harris (talk) 05:29, March 21, 2011 (UTC)BringnIt

maxed Spirit warrior + Cinch of Skillful maneuvering + Spellward + Cailan's Greaves + 1 evasion rune in your armor should give a Warrior 100% dodge and thus make him/her immune to almost all attacks (the harvester's reaper's cudgel attack auto hits regardless). I beat it quite easily on Nightmare with a Battlemage/Bloodmage/Keeper combo without micro managing allies and only a 80% dodge chance. Trick to that fight was whenever skeles approached on mass Hand of Winter + Nature's Vengence + Thornblades would demolish them and even in the event one or two resisted the onslaught Timespiral was handy to reset all the cooldowns--173.210.231.80 (talk) 06:04, March 21, 2011 (UTC)

One thing that does work pretty well, that I don't see mentioned here, is kiting. Don't be ashamed to kite an enemy this difficult. Brogan should come with Threaten and Taunt, and if you can give him Air of Insolence, he makes nearly the perfect aggression-attractor. Have him grab all aggression and just run around and the skeletons and Harvester will mostly chase him and ignore your other characters, who should have tactics to heal when less than 75% and attack the nearest elite boss, i.e., pound the hell out of the Harvester as long as you are not dying. Try to run in such a way that at least one of your characters is between Brogan and the Harvester; this way, the Harvester will keep running into your character while your character keeps swinging at him. Occasionally the Harvester will focus on another ally; just have Brogan run up and attack him until his attention is grabbed again. Try to kite around the Fade pedestal area, so you can tap the pedestal periodically when the skeletons become a problem; try to reserve this for the boss skeletons, which are much deadlier than the Harvester itself. Once the Harvester switches to the small body, you can go after it more, but I still end up needing to kite skeletons with Brogan while everyone else pounds on the Harvester. When I do this fight, I spend most of my time controlling Brogan and running away from enemies, but I am far more likely to win than when I try to stand toe-to-toe and fight. 66.92.232.102 (talk) 06:22, March 21, 2011 (UTC)

I defeat the harvester pretty easily on nightmare with dual wielding rogue by extensively using traps. Put traps on where the corpses spawns and around the bridges. Its to prevent being overwhelmed by the corpses. Then when the harvester turn into the smaller ones run through your traps and it'll die pretty quickly. I takes a lot of patients to set up traps that many though..